Closing Your Eyes Won't Change A Thing
by spacedmuch
Summary: As Regina finally reaches her limit, the magic inside of her compels her to take action in the worst possible way. However, two people in her life simply refuse to let go. A post Queen of Hearts one shot, disregarding all following episodes. Warning: Possible trigger, implied suicide attempt.


_Set after 2x09 Queen of Hearts and disregarding all episodes following. I wrote this on my phone, and it remains un-beta'd so all mistakes are mine (feel free to point them out!). _

_It's been a while, but QoH stirred me to write something. An alternative result to Regina absorbing the magic from the well. A bit dark, but ultimately happy ending. One shot._

* * *

**Death Will Come To All Those Who Seek It  
by spacedmuch**

Regina sat, staring gently out the window. Snow drifted lazily to the ground as her hand slid further up the cheek it was resting against. The deep red satin blouse, which happened to be one of her favourites, clung uncomfortably to her lower back. A cold, clammy sweat had enveloped her body in the past hour, but she was choosing to ignore it.

Her free hand swirled the glass in her grasp, the ice tinkling against the edge of the crystal. She lifted the glass to her nose and inhaled the intoxicating scent of the Glenlivet 18 year. It wasn't one of her best, but there wasn't much use in wasting her cellar collection on the mood she was currently in. Her thoughts drifted as she watched the snowflakes touch the ground, only to be quickly engulfed in the mass of white that covered lawn. Such a fleeting life, she thought, as their beauty was snuffed out in short order.

_Snow_, she scoffed to herself. How fitting.

She felt a numbness creep up from her wrist and spread throughout her hand where the weight of her head was beginning to take its toll. She sighed in slight irritation, but didn't have the energy to readjust for comforts sake. If she was honest with herself, she didn't have the energy for much of anything anymore.

Revenge.

The books were right on some things it would seem. It never worked out the way you expected, and the villain was always left worse off than they began.

Before the curse she had power, she was feared, she was in control of her emotions and in control of her kingdom as a result. As with all fairy tale villains, she should have stopped while she was ahead. Instead she pursued vengeance down to its darkest depths. It had destroyed the last vestiges of love in her life, only to have her seek it out once more, to cling to it, in the form of a small, dark headed child with startlingly blue eyes and a smile which would claim the last remaining beat in her heart.

She would never understand why she had done it. Why she had let something else in; something else to engulf her beyond sanity; something else to lose. A child's love was supposed to know no bounds. Unconditional love - that was what she had signed up for. _What a joke_, she scoffed into her scotch. A dark, self-indulgent sneer crossed her face as her knuckles whitened around the glass in her hand. She tipped it back, consuming the last of the 18 year unflinchingly.

She held the glass in front of her face, watching the flicker of light that danced across the crystal as she titled it slowly side to side. Something so beautiful, which could easily be broken, she thought to herself. Before she had a chance to register her actions, her face was tightening in overwhelming anger. The crystal flew out of her hand without a second thought, her wrist snapping to a halt as she let the tumbler fly, smashing through the window in front of her.

She drew a deep, sharp breath as shards flicked across her cheeks and chest, the ice cold air from outside drawing straight into her lungs, sucking out the last semblance of warmth in her life. As she inhaled deeply once more, a hollow chuckle escaped her. The warm trickles which began to course down her skin went unnoticed by the former Queen.

She stared through the now open window in wonder at her minds failure to grasp on to anything. She was, for the first time, lost. Without purpose. Without aim, goal, or victory in sight. She felt herself spiralling downward into a black pit of nothingness. As her cheeks reddened against the unforgiving cold, her heart ceased in her chest. She gasped for breath but no matter how many times she tried, nothing could fill the void.

Malificient was right, she thought to herself. Maybe she should have heeded the warning her friend had given her 28 years ago. She had gained nothing. She was no victor. She was certainly no happier. She was left with nothing and no one, the emptiness more consuming than the one she had felt before.

She idly brushed the back of her hand across her cheek. Holding it out in the cool air she marvelled at the bright red streak that was smeared across it. A snow flake gently landed against it and she watched as the colour bled slowly into the purest form of white. She laughed softly at how easily it was tarnished, the irony not lost on the Evil Queen.

Below her outstretched wrist a glistening shard poked up out of the window frame. Flickers of warning glanced against the edges of her conscious mind, but were easily brushed off. It could all end now, she thought, the voice in her head not her own. Her will had been weakened by the emotional blows of the past few days. The push and pull with Henry today had finally stripped her of her last ounce of fight. She watched as she allowed her arm to fall without resistance.

As the shard tore its way through her exposed skin, she felt nothing. _There is nothing left to feel_, the voice taunted her. _You are dead inside._

* * *

She closed the door quietly behind her as she made her way out of the diner. The laughter and chatter died away as she made her way out to the road, pulling her coat tightly around her. She inhaled the cool air deeply, feeling a calm settle in her chest at the peace.

Emma Swan was never one for crowds. She looked back, a smile gracing her features as she watched Henry chat animatedly with Charming. It would appear she had missed a lot while she had been away. She studied Snow as she strolled up and placed a hand gently in David's lower back, bending down slightly to engage Henry further. The ex-Sheriff of Storybrooke felt herself take an unconscious step back. She shook her head as if to shake away the demons crawling up her back. Even weeks away with Snow had failed to make this "family" transition any easier. Everything still felt off kilter and she longed for something that resembled her intrinsic understanding of normality.

Emma looked up to the sky and sighed, the snowflakes landing on her face. It was crystal clear, the Milky Way spanning miles in every direction. She tilted her head as the realisation struck her that none of this was familiar. Fairytale land was so far from this reality that even the constellations were drastically different. She was struggling to grasp onto reality right now, her mind seemingly locked in a constant state of confusion. It was like living in a dream that she couldn't wake up from.

She pulled her newly charged phone from her back pocket and dialled a familiar number. She watched through the window as Mary Margaret picked up her phone.

"Emma?"

"Hey MM. Can you keep an eye on Henry for me for a bit?"

"Of course…are you alright?"

"Yeah, just need to clear my head for a minute. I won't be long. Just call if anything -"

"I will. Be safe." Snow said softly as she looked out the window, her eyes locking with the Sheriff's, a knowing look on her face. Emma nodded at her as she hit the end call button and slipped the phone back in her pocket.

She spun on her heels and began to meander down the road, no destination in mind.

* * *

Regina stared at the piece of glass piercing out through her skin. The sheer volume of blood spilling onto the pristine white sill was worrying. She knew this in her mind, yet the associated terror one would expect to feel at such a revelation was absent. Something in her subconscious screamed out at her react, to fight, but she simply continued to watch, the numbness climbing through her exposed limbs and across her upper body. It was like being a spectator in a dream.

She reached out with her free hand and touched the point of glass protruding from her wrist. She pulled back and stared at the small prick on the tip of her finger in wonder as her vision began to glaze over.

She lay her free arm across the blood soaked sill and let her chin rest against it, staring out into the cool dark night. Resignation finally graced her features as she let her eyes drift closed, the chill of winter pervading all that she had left. The voice screaming in the back of her mind grew still as she drifted into the darkness that had been waiting so long to claim her.

* * *

Emma walked. And walked. Thoughts trailed through her head in no particular order, tumbling and turning and unfortunately revealing nothing.

Mary Ma..."Snow" kept creeping to the surface, a disturbing mash up of quiet teacher and strong warrior, best friend and mother. She was still struggling to marry the two in her mind and find a proper place for them in her life.

Then there was Charming, the seemingly weak willed husband of a woman she barely knew, now her father. She barely knew the man and yet he insisted on looking at her like she was family. She trusted him because Snow trusted him. That was all she could give him right now.

Finally there was Henry. Her son. Her brave, idiot of a son who put himself in burning magical limbo just to help them home.

How on Earth could they have let him do it!? What was wrong with Charming, and where the hell was Regina when this was happening? She was supposed to protect him. Emma trusted her to protect him. She laughed sardonically at that thought. Trusting Regina? Madam Mayor. The Evil Queen. The woman tried to kill her for Christ sake. She really was fucked up...

And yet the Sheriff had a hard time holding a grudge against that bitch in heels. She remembered the broken woman she saw today. The small smile and the tentative "welcome back" that had graced her lips had painted her in yet another shade of grey. The fiery brunette was nothing short of an enigma that drove Emma to distraction.

If she was honest, she was almost glad to see the former Mayor. Maybe it stemmed from a sense of gratitude that she had helped secure their passage home. Or maybe it was because in the grand scheme of her messed up life right now, Regina was the only thing that gave her balance.

Regina Mills brought things back to a sense of familiarity, and above all, normality. The on-going competition between the two of them was over something tangible, something real world - Henry's affections. Emma clung to it like the last vestige of reality after being flung into this ridiculous situation. It was grounding.

And so the blonde found herself strolling along a path she had taken many times before.

* * *

As the Sheriff rounded a corner onto the familiar road, the wind picked up a notch. She felt a chill pervade every bone in her body. It felt unnatural and put her ill at ease. She pulled her shoulders back, stood taller and allowed an extra measure of swagger to enter her step, even as she looked suspiciously around at her surroundings.

The mansion where this whole bloody mess began loomed ahead. As she approached the front door she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She rubbed absentmindedly at them before checking behind her once more.

She knocked firmly on the dark door of 108 and waited, gloved hands stuffed firmly in her pockets.

She rocked back on her heels, fidgeting impatiently as nothing but silence greeted her.

Frowning at the lack of response, she knocked again.

She stepped back from the door and looked around. Leaning to the side she saw the light from Regina's study casting itself over that infernal apple tree. She banged the heel of her palm against the door. "Regina! I know you're in there! Open up!"

Still nothing.

"I left my torch and pitchfork at home," she called out in that infuriating sing song tone she knew the Mayor despised, "and I didn't bring my bucket of water today!" She threw out around the side of the house, hoping to rile the women into action.

She stopped and listened. Still silence. Eerie silence she thought to herself.

She cocked her head, a feeling of dread slowly creeping into her gut.

Throwing caution into the wind she rounded the side of the house. Something told her she couldn't leave until she saw the attitude laden Queen.

Henry had explained what she had done today, and initial intentions be damned, she wanted to make sure she was alright. As much as she should be wary of the owner of this mansion, anything involving Gold had a tendency to have unseen and often undesired consequences.

As she reached the window of the study she stopped dead in her tracks as something crunched under foot. She lifted her boot from the inch of snow and stared aimlessly at the shard of glass poking out of sole. She reached down and plucked it out as she took in the scene before her. As her mind caught up she felt her heart kick into gear, panic clawing at her chest.

"REGINA!" She yelled as she scrambled forward. She felt her arm snag on something as she stretched through the window to grab the woman's face. She was whiter than the ground around them, a contrast made starker by the espresso dark tone of her hair.

"Regina! Come on!" She spoke urgently as she shook the woman's face. Her elbow slipped on the sill causing a sharp pang in her arm. She pulled back in shock, taking in the substance which had caused the loss of friction.

"Oh god no. No, no, no, NO!" Emma cried as she fully grasped the scene before her. She tore off her gloves and threw them on the ground, reaching for the impaled arm of her long time enemy. The Sheriff had seen some grizzly things in her time, but she was at a loss as to what to do. If she extracted the wrist it could do more damage, if she left her any longer she could die, if she wasn't...

No! The blonde thought to herself. "Not today Madam Mayor, not on my fucking watch!" She commanded as she raced for the front door, kicking it off its hinges as she flew through the entry way trailing mud all over the clean marble floors. She slid slightly as she rounded on the study, flying to the side of the woman who was an incessant thorn in her side.

She tore off her jacket and threw it aside, pulling her phone out of her back pocket and dialling the first number that came to mind. She cradled the phone under her ear as she reached the brunette's side, pressing her forefingers to her pulse point. A familiar voice answered; a hint of confusion in the greeting.

"Emma?"

"Get the Doc, the fairy Nuns - Christ just anyone who can heal anything and get to the Mayors, fuck David now, I need someone now! It's Regina!" She cried in desperation as she pressed down more firmly on the former Mayors neck. She prayed for something, even the tiniest of flutters to indicate the woman below her still clung to life, but the gods weren't listening. They had abandoned the Evil Queen a long time ago.

She dropped her phone at her feet and pulled her hand away from the Queen's neck. She had nothing left to lose as she reached around the woman and lifted her wrist off the jagged shard of glass still holding firmly in the window frame. She lifted the older woman from her chair and carried her away from the scene, placing her down as gently as she could.

Emma pulled her plain white tank top over her head at tied it firmly around the still seeping wound at the brunette's wrist. She pulled tighter and tighter in desperation to stop the bleeding. She held the arm aloft, resting it on her left shoulder, vainly hoping gravity would help stem the flow as she pushed the matted hair away from Regina's forehead with her free hand. It achieved little aside from smearing blood across the former Mayor's face, adding to horrific scene before her.

Emma felt a laugh bubble in chest. It came out high pitched and hysterical as she stared at Regina's snow white face.

"You look like shit Madam Mayor," she drawled out the title with as much sarcasm as she could muster. "Honestly Regina. I don't think I've ever seen you in such a state." She laughed again as she tightened her grip across the wound harder than she thought possible. She clung to the former Queen's right wrist, as though she was clinging onto life on Regina's behalf.

As the hysterics died down she felt her mood shift drastically again. She thought of Henry and anger began to bubble up in her chest. She felt her free hand grab Regina's blouse roughly, as vitriol began to spew forth from her mouth.

"Don't you fucking dare do this to him!" She screamed as she released her grip on the blouse, slamming her fist down on the other woman's chest.

"Don't you fucking dare leave him with me!" She slammed her fist down again, "You can't do this to me! He's yours! God damn it Regina, he's your son! Yours! You hear me Madam Mayor!? YOURS!" She cried out as she punctuated each and every sentence with another slam of her fist.

A sob unwittingly escaped her as she dug her fingertips into the skin covering the brunette's heart.

She leant down, her forehead resting against that of the woman she believed she despised. A choked whisper escaped her lips,  
"I can't do this alone..."

* * *

The Sheriff's head snapped up as footsteps thundered through the mansion. Emma felt her heart fall further as she watched Henry lead the charge, dropping heavily to his knees beside his adoptive Mother. His face was stricken as his stared imploringly at Emma to do something which would ease his pain.

"Henry!" A cry from the doorway sounded as Snow came flying into the room, trailing behind the young boy. She stood stock still as she took in the scene below her, her hand coming to her mouth in horror.

Emma looked past her, her eyes desperately searching for the rescue party. No one else had followed them in. Emma knew the answer to that riddle before the question had left her lips.

"Where are they?" Emma asked, her now gravelly voice choking on the words.

Snow closed her eyes and let out a shaky breath, before confirming Emma's fears.  
"Emma I...I'm sorry. They wouldn't come...they..."

Emma cut her off before she could get any further, "not a single one? Not even for him!?"

Snow shook her head sadly as she watched Emma turn her face back to Henry, who was clinging to his Mother's blouse, tears streaming freely down his face as he shook her gently as though she was simply sleeping.

"Red's still trying, and Charming's gone to find Gold. Maybe he will..." Snow trailed off as she studied the scene before her more closely. Her Stepmother's lips were turning a darker shade of blue. It was too late. Regardless of who arrived now, the former dictator of Fairytale land had little, if any, time left.

She knew she should have felt elated. That the decades of pain inflicted on her by this woman would finally be over. But, as she took in the heartbreak of the two newest members of her family, she realised that this passing would leave little to celebrate.

Anger seeped back into the blondes face as she snarled at her Mother. "You didn't try hard enough! And even worse, you let Henry come here to see..." She waved her hand erratically at Regina, "this!?"

Her eyes locked with Snow's in fury.

"GET OUT!"

"Emma I -"

"Just leave," Emma said warningly, "you've done enough tonight." The blondes tone was like ice.

Snow felt it like a dagger to her chest as she took a step back.

Emma's concentration was quickly pulled away from the object of her fury, a desperate plea cutting sharply through her anger.

"Emma do something. Please..." Henry begged.

"I..." She started, but couldn't finish. She didn't know what else to do. The brunette had lost too much blood, she wouldn't make a hospital, only magic could save her now and no one in this god forsaken town was coming to her aid.

Henry saw the lost look on her face and turned his attention back to his adoptive Mother. She always knew what to do, she always had a solution.

"Mom wake up. Come on. Please..." Henry begged as he shook Regina lightly. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean any of it," he said desperately. "I'll come home; everything can go back to the way it was. Just don't...just don't...don't..." He couldn't finish, instead pressing his face into her neck and whispering unheard pleas against her skin, his arms wrapping around her shoulders and clinging on for dear life.

* * *

Seconds passed, each feeling like an age as Emma stared on helplessly, unable to stop her son's life from falling apart around him. She couldn't bare to watch it any longer. Her heart was tearing asunder.

She turned away, her line of sight drifting out of the broken window and landing on Regina's apple tree. Her eyes caught the stump still failing to regrow after its unfortunate visit with a chainsaw.

The fruit around it was shrivelling and growing darker by the second, it's life tethered to that of it's master.

The former Sheriff smiled lightly as a vision of the Mayor standing before her, full of life and fury flooded her memory. She remembered every detail of that short lived victory. The way dark brown eyes flashed with rage, the way fists clenched until knuckles turned white, longing to knock her block off. Emma vividly recalled Regina's incessant need to invade her personal space with a single step, her face always a portrait of anger. Every time it happened the Sheriff could practically feel the heat emanating off the other woman. Regina was always so alive in those moments, energy radiating in every movement, every venomous taunt, every bald faced threat.

She wanted that cantankerous, stubborn bitch back. She wanted to feel that heat again. She wanted to be the object of the former Queen's rage. She took a step back in her mind's eye and reached out her hand to _that_ Regina, to Mayor Mills.

"Come back to us," she spoke softly, her gaze piercing into the memory of her favourite enemy. "Come back to me. I...we need you," she whispered as the face before her titled her head, smirking in that infuriating manner which made Emma want to slap her, before nodding and slipping her hand into Emma's.

The Sheriff clung on to dear life as she was flung back to the present, muffled sobs from Henry invading her thoughts as held that vision of Regina in her mind. She felt slow burning warmth emanating from her chest. She pushed against the invisible wall before her until she felt the warmth spread rapidly up her left arm, exploding out of the palm that gripped the former Mayor's injured arm.

Snow inhaled in shock as she watched the display before her. A golden hue seemed to encompass both her daughter and her sworn enemy. It wasn't magic the way Snow was used to experiencing it. It felt warm; it tugged at her heart, causing her breath to catch in her throat. She was thrown back to a day when a glass coffin was to be her home before Charming had rode in to her rescue.

She watched in wonder as the glow grew brighter, enveloping Henry and Emma. It took hold of the only two people in Regina's life that seemed to care if she lived or died, both clinging on to her for all it was worth. Snow took in her daughter's face, etched in concentration, like she was facing a mammoth of a task.

The light stopped suddenly and Emma smirked in a cock sure manner before the colour drained from her face and she toppled backwards, her hand slipping from Regina's wrist. The brunette's arm slid from her shoulder, a resounding thud ringing throughout the room as both the arm and former Sheriff hit the floor without resistance.

Henry stared from one mother to the other, his eyes landing on Regina and refusing to move as the primary force in his young life finally opened her eyes. As she stared into tear stained blue eyes she smiled, reaching up to touch his cheek.

Regina's face blanched as she noted the blood soaked rag around her wrist. She sat up suddenly, Henry throwing himself into her arms as she tried to gain her bearings. She gripped onto her son as she heard that voice she so despised cry out, "Emma!" as Snow ran around to the disturbing sight of the blonde lying prostrate to her right, her top half clad in nothing but a black sports bra.

Regina's mind was struggling to piece everything together. She looked around and noted the broken glass littering the floor, trailing up to the near empty bottle of scotch on her desk and across to the blood soaked window sill.

Like a nightmare, it all came flooding back in disturbing clarity. She reached around Henry's warm form pressed firmly against her to pull the crudely tied rag from her wrist. As she held it aloft, she realised it was one if the Sheriff's many assorted tank tops.

She threw the offending piece of clothing to the side and gripped her bare wrist. She felt through the mess of blood caked skin where a gaping wound should have been, coming up naught.

She looked at Snow then. "What happened?" She demanded, authority ripping through the White Queen's hysteria.

"I don't know, one minute you were... And then the next, she did something and now..."

Regina shook her head in exasperation at the display of idiocy before her. She pulled Henry back and clasped his face in her hands. Her eyes bore into his as she spoke slowly and evenly, her expression soft, but commanding.

"I'm okay Henry. I promise. Now I need you to let go so I can check on Sheriff Swan." She watched his face relax, the trust in his gaze evident as he released the death grip he had around her neck, moving away just enough to give her room to move.

She knelt next to the blonde responsible for saving her life, yet again, it would seem. Her expression hardened.

"What have you done this time you idiot?" she barked out as she looked at the ghostly pale complexion below her.

"Are you so dense that you are completely incapable of getting through a single day without injuring yourself?" she demanded in a tone that screamed Mayor Mills, in all her former glory.

"How dare you put my son through this Miss Swan! I will chain you to the side of this house if I have to - that way you can entertain him with the constant drivel that comes out of your mouth, and I'll no longer have to worry that..."

The former Mayor trailed off as she rested a palm on the Sheriff's chest. The skin underneath was coated in a cold sweat, but Regina was satisfied at the slight rise and fall under her hand. It confirmed her suspicions. This infuriating, idiotic, train wreck of a human-being below her, would be just fine.

"Magical exhaustion" she said out loud to no one in particular.

"You're sure?" Snow asked suddenly, clinging on to Emma's hand. Regina rounded on the woman who refused to extract herself out of her ass, "Yes Miss Blanchard, I'm quite sure. If you have an alternative diagnosis, then by all means, share it," she hissed. Snow opened her mouth to respond but stopped herself.

Regina lifted her hand off the Sheriff's chest gently, shaking her head at the sense of relief that fluttered in her stomach. She stood up, brushing the front of her dark pencil skirt before snapping into action. She didn't need the free time to dwell too heavily on tonight's events, or that particular emotional response. She was horrified at what she had done to herself, at what Henry had been forced to witness. A voice tried to claw it's way back into her mind, familiar words echoing up out of the depths - _you are dead inside._

"Henry," she began, as he stood at attention, knowing that tone all too well, "pull down the covers in the downstairs guest, get a bowl of water and a facecloth. We'll need a bottle of water and the ibuprofen from the first aid kit as well."

Henry looked at her and smiled the widest, most genuine smile she had seen in a long time. Her heart caught in her chest as she realised it was directed at her.

"Regina, I really thi-" Snow began before she was abruptly cut off. "Your Highness," Regina couldn't help but sneer, "just _how_ exactly do you plan on moving her across town to that floral coated monstrosity you call a home in her current condition?" Snow glanced down at Emma and realised she wasn't coming round any time soon, she was about to voice her consent before Regina carried on with her lecture, the former Evil Queen's eyes never leaving her daughters face as she knelt down next to the blonde once more. "You have absolutely _no_ idea what you're dealing with Miss Blanchard. If you want to do what's best for your daughter," she continued as she lifted Emma's arm and slid her own underneath the blondes shoulder, grunting slightly against the dead weight that was the Sheriff's upper body, "then you will help me get her out of the cold, before the shock sets in any further than it already has." Snow scrambled into action at that, helping Regina lift the blonde to her feet, the two women dragging her through to the guest bedroom. As they set her down, they each took a boot in hand and began unlacing in unison.

"How long?" Snow asked quietly.

"A couple of days, at most, I suspect. It's a difficult thing to predict. This magic is new to me, and to her, I believe. She needs time to recover."

Snow simply nodded as she extracted Emma's foot from her boot, pulling her socks off along with it. She straightened up at the same time as Regina, both women staring the skin tight jeans that clad the woman below them. Snow looked across to Regina and saw a flush rising up from her chest. She stifled a smirk before letting the older woman off the hook. She had been through enough tonight.

"Why don't you get her something warm to sleep in, and I'll deal with..." she trailed off as she waved nonchalantly in the direction of her daughters denim clad legs.

Regina nodded, before spinning quickly on the balls of her feet and exiting the room.

By the time she returned, Snow had the woman tucked under the covers and was gently stroking the matted blonde hair away from her face. The former Mayor felt a warm arm slip around her waist as she watched mother and daughter from the doorway. She looked down, startled to find Henry at her side, his blue eyes staring straight up at her. They were no longer closed off to her the way they had been for the better part of a year, ever since that infernal book had started to chip away at her life.

She crumbled inside, her legs following suit, as she felt them begin to fail her. Henry gripped her more firmly, holding her steady, supporting her. She needed to move away from this doorway, she couldn't let Snow see her, not like this. She tried to tear her eyes away from her son but his gaze held her in place. "I'm sorry Mom," he said quietly before lacing his other arm around her waist and pulling her into an embrace. _When did he get so tall_, she wondered to herself as she clung on to her son for dear life.

Snow turned away from Emma, taking in the sight in the doorway before her. Regina, sans heels for once, looked more like the young woman she had loved like a Mother years ago, as tears streamed freely down her face. The older woman's eyes were locked on the young boy, tangled around her waist, her eyes alight in wonder, but above all, Snow thought, love.

She remembered that look and a pang of jealously pitched through her at the memory. She looked back to Emma and sighed. Things could have been so different she thought as she leant over and kissed her daughter gently on the forehead. She touched her cheek lightly before turning to leave.

As she reached the doorway, she locked eyes with the woman she had once loved with all her heart. The White Queen simply nodded to the Dark as she tore her gaze away and made her way out of the Mills Mansion.

* * *

Evening sunlight flooded through the window as Emma Swan cracked an eye open. It was sitting directly in her line of sight at that moment. She swore as a compounded thudding fired through her head in all directions.

"Language Miss Swan," a familiar voice sounded; the perfect amount of bite present as always. She felt a combination of pills being thrust into her hand and a bottle of water dumped unceremoniously on her chest.

The Sheriff cracked her eyes open once more to stare at the goodies in her hand. "Pharmaceuticals Madam Mayor? You're losing your touch. I remember your attempts to kill me being far more creative," Emma threw back, her attempt at a smirk falling short of its mark and landing somewhere around a pained grimace.

"Ever the comedian." Regina deadpanned, "Just take the medication Miss Swan and try not to consume too much energy with the drivel that is forever falling out of that mouth of yours. You're going to need it over the next twenty four hours."

Emma tried to sit up but felt herself firmly pushed back down.  
"Rest Miss Swan, and stop moving, you'll disturb Henry." Emma made the decision not to argue with the snarky brunette as she felt a warm weight shift against her side. She reached out a hand and connected with a mop of hair. She threw all the pills in her mouth and reached a shaky hand for the water bottle. Regina watched her struggle for a moment before sighing and helping the blonde support the weight of the bottle. When she was done, Emma let her head fall back, a soft "thanks" falling from her lips as she quickly drifted off again.

Regina gently soaked a facecloth in the basin of cool water set next to the bed. She folded it and replaced it gently on the blonde's forehead. Her temperature was coming down nicely. With any luck she would be back on her feet and out of her house by tomorrow morning at the latest.

She rubbed absentmindedly at the patch of skin where the glass had penetrated the night before. A tingling sensation kept plaguing the area and it was driving her to distraction. That's what you get when an idiot plays with magic she thought to herself. She had yet to let herself dissect the previous night just yet, instead throwing all of her energy at the infernal blonde currently occupying her guest room.

It was an effective distraction she had to admit, and one that kept Henry happy. She looked over to her son who had fallen asleep in a chair, his head cradled in his hands, nestled against the Sheriff. The object of his affection had her arm resting gently across his back.

It was settled now, unknowingly sworn in fire, portals and finally blood. Emma Swan was a part of her life, and she wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. Regina pinched the bridge of her nose as she sat back down in the chair she had occupied for the better part of a night and a day. She clasped her right wrist once more, the light warmth there giving her a sense of comfort as she looked on at the two people who had cared enough. She smiled gently at that thought and closed her eyes, a small prick of hope laying seed in her heart once more.


End file.
